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I would be interested to hear if anyone had recommendations for 2-player games that are particularly suitable for playing while travelling on trains. (I ask this as someone who mostly enjoys games like Carcassonne, Power Grid, Agricola, Pandemic, etc. around the table at home.) To be specific, the things that I think are important properties for these games are:

Needing minimal table space. Most trains have a small table you could use, but not much more.

Being quiet to play, so that other passengers won't be disturbed. For example, I imagine that games that involve repeatedly rolling dice wouldn't be appreciated.

Packing down small, so that they don't take up much luggage space.

Not requiring batteries or a power socket. (I appreciate that an iPhone or a Nintendo DS for each player might be a good solution more generally, but it's not what I'm after in this case.)

Not being so delicate to arrange that motion from the train will unduly disrupt the play.

I think it would be best to recommend one game (or class of games) per answer, if that's appropriate, and explain why you think it's particularly suitable. (Incidentally, I've read the guidance on good questions about game recommendations and hope this question meets the criteria.)

Update: Thanks for so many excellent suggestions - we certainly won't be short of games for our next long train journey :)

Update 2: Unfortunately, I can't really playtest this many great games in any reasonable time period, so I'm going to accept the top-voted answer (Cribbage) and try out the others as soon as I can. Thanks again...

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Do you enjoy card games at all or are you just interested in boardgames?
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Scott MitchellJan 18 '11 at 17:50

@Scott Mitchell: sure, I'd be interested in suggestions for card games, it's just that we just don't play them much at home (except sometimes Bohnanza, which really needs more than 2). I wondered if someone might suggest San Juan, for example, or Haggis, which both sound interesting.
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Mark LongairJan 18 '11 at 18:58

15 Answers
15

I would suggest Cribbage. Not much space is required, it is quick to set up and put away, involves no more noise than any game between two players, and is a very good game. It is also best enjoyed with a glass of something in the other hand, increasing its suitability for a train journey.

Thanks for the suggestion - I haven't tried cribbage before, but it sounds fun. Perhaps I should have added "leaves one hand free for a glass of something" to the list of requirements :)
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Mark LongairJan 17 '11 at 9:01

Another thing to make Cribbage even more portable is instead of keeping score on a board, keep score on two stop watches. 1 point = 1 second. First person to 2:01 wins.
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David OneillJan 19 '11 at 19:29

My family took this on our trip to Europe expressly to play on trains, and we successfully conducted several three-player games that way. You get a solid variant of the award-winning TtR in a very small space. We packed it into a box meant to hold a deck of Magic cards and thought the space it took was well worth it.

Ingenious is a very solid abstract game in its own right - a Knizia design. This travel edition looks like exactly what you're looking for. The board holds the pieces and score markers firmly in place, and it's made for two.

Boggle is one of my favorite games and can be enjoyably played alone or with two, three, or four players. It's got a small form factor and requires little space in your suitcase. The only potential downside is shaking the tiles can be a bit noisy if you're not careful, but it is possible to shake them with only minimal noise.

There are also a variety of boardgames that offer travel-sized versions, from Chess to Go to Checkers. These are usually considerably smaller and have magnetic pieces to ensure there isn't slippage when going around a bend or coming to a stop and are more suitable for car rides, but I imagine they'd work for a train ride.

Perhaps the most portable gaming system is a deck of playing cards. Unfortunately, there aren't nearly as many card games for two players as there are for three or more, but there are still some gems. As Brian Hooper noted, Cribbage is a great two player card game and can be played without a board, keeping score on a piece of paper. Here are some other two player card games that you might give a try:

Honeymoon bridge - if you enjoy bridge this is an entertaining variation for two. Not as much strategy as with four, but still fun and a great way to pass the time.

Gin rummy - played this a lot as a kid and, from what I remember, it was a lot of fun (at least for a kid!).

Speed - this might not be the most suitable game for a train ride since it involves each player "discarding" as quick as they can, which can make it a bit boisterous, but it is worth exploring and is especially fun after a cup (or two) of coffee.

Most two player card games I've encountered are usually quite simple with straightforward rules and little to no strategy. They serve more as an outlet to pass the time. If you are looking for more of a thinking man's two player game, consider a classic like Chess or Go.

Fluxx and all the variants definitely meet all the requirements. However, if you want a strategy game its definitely not a good choice, so I expect this to get voted down just for that. Its a different game with two players, and fairly quiet if you ignore the zombie fluxx card that requires you to groan whenever a zombie creeper shows up. :)

I built my own travel version out of Lego, but you might not be that keen. It is a dice game, so that might be a down side for you. I used some tiny little dice in a clear plastic container, so that was quieter and avoided losing the dice. You could also use a Deck of Dice to reduce dice hassles. It might even have some interesting effects on the game since you can't roll four of a kind with two cards from a single deck of dice. If you're feeling crafty, you could mount four spinners from thrift-store games onto a piece of cardboard and write the numbers 1-6 around each spinner.

1) The box it comes in acts as a nice sound-dampening dice-rolling tray, making it far less disruptive than your average dice game. I can imagine playing it on a train without disturbing other passengers.

2) Packs small, plays small, resistant to jostling.

3) Plays two players just fine, and scales to three or four (just in case).

In fact, "Roll Through The Ages" was exactly the game I was thinking of :) I haven't tried it, but remember reading somewhere that the dice rolling made it noisy. Thanks for the comment about dampening the noise, etc. though - another excuse to get a copy is very welcome.
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Mark LongairJan 26 '11 at 19:46

It requires only little table space (19cm x 19cm is enough). You could even play it without a table.

Short set up time, say half a minute.

It is a short game, so you can play it whenever you've got a spare moment. You might even interrupt a gameby closing the box.

Last but not least it is a very enjoyable game without a luck factor, quite addicting really.

One drawback is that (in my copy) some of the blocks come off the board too easily. Because the box cannot be closed very tightly, it is easy to loose some components when traveling. Luckily this can be fixed by wrapping a elastic band around it.

I'm really surprised by this suggestion - the tiles from the base set of Carcassonne takes up more space that I've ever had on a train table. I've considered the travel version, but I think even that version requires too much table space.
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Mark LongairJan 26 '11 at 20:14

Not sure how big your train tables are, but I've played in some really compact spaces. Try laying out the tiles and see how much room they take :D You can also only take 2 sets of meeples with you if you want to reduce size even further.
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tunaranchJan 30 '11 at 23:26